Gabrielle Cole and Alanzo Ryan named Under Armour Athletes of the Week
Will these University of Guelph runners contribute to the school's seventh straight U Sports title?
Photo by:
Scott Peel
Canadian Running and Under Armour have teamed up for the 2025 Canadian U Sports indoor track and field season to highlight some of the nation’s brightest talents. Each week, leading up to the 2025 U Sports Track and Field Championships in Windsor, Ont., in March, Canadian Running will select one male and one female athlete as the Under Armour Athletes of the Week.
The athletes of the week will be a male and female track and field athlete who achieved a standout performance, broke a school record or crushed a personal best. These athletes will be featured on the Canadian Running site and awarded the UA Infinite Elite running shoe. University of Guelph’s Gabrielle Cole and Alanzo Ryan have been chosen as this week’s Under Armour U Sports Athletes of the Week for their performances on Jan. 31-Feb. 1.
Gabrielle Cole, University of Guelph (OUA)
At last weekend’s Penn State National Open, the University of Guelph’s Gabrielle Cole soared to double wins in the 60m and 200m events. On Friday, the sprinter clocked a personal best of 7.36 in the 60m to bolster up her existing #1 spot in the U Sports rankings. Cole won by three-hundredths of a second, a significant margin in a 60m dash.
Although her time demolished the auto-qualifying time standard (Auto-Q) of 7.47, Cole already claimed a ticket to the national championships with her 7.40 performance in January.
“I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made this season,” Cole told Canadian Running. “I built better after 30m than I’ve done in any of my previous 60m [races]. I don’t feel like I had the start I wanted and there’s still some small stuff I can work on, so I’m excited for what I can do at OUAs and U Sports.”
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The sprinter went on to win Saturday’s 200m in 23.86–a personal-best time both indoors and outdoors. (Although the event is not an official U-Sports distance, the time is converted to an equivalent 300m time of 38.23, smashing the Auto-Q time.) Cole’s teammate and last year’s U Sports 300m champion, Nicole McKenzie, took second in 24.01. The duo hold the #4 and #3 spots on the national leaderboard.
“I really didn’t go into the 200m with a game plan–just to run and not get caught,” Cole said. “Nicole was behind me, so I just went full throttle and it paid off. I’m excited for what’s to come in that event too.”
The 20-year-old also contributed to the Gryphons 4 x 400m relay team that ran the fastest time in U Sports this year and the second-fastest time in collegiate history, 3:37.63. The time sits just 0.1 seconds off Guelph’s program record.
Cole looks to continue improving with each performance throughout the remainder of the season. “If I can knock down the school record for the 60m while I’m at it, that would make it so much sweeter,” she said. Olympian and Gryphon alum Jacqueline Madogo holds the school record of 7.25. “All glory to God for my strength and improvement this season, through him I want to keep excelling,” Cole said.
Alanzo Ryan, University of Guelph (OUA)
At the same meet, Gryphon athlete Alanzo Ryan smashed Guelph’s 600m program record with a 1:17.44 performance–the ninth-fastest run in Canadian history and personal best by nearly 1.5 seconds. The previous school record of 1:17.83 had stood since 2018. Ryan’s performance marks the fastest time in U Sports so far this year.
“The race felt really good,” Ryan told Canadian Running. “I felt strong–the strongest I’ve felt this year. And I know there’s more left–I’m going to run faster.” In his 1:19.76 season opener in Windsor, Ont., on Jan. 12, Ryan achieved the Auto-Q time and confirmed his place at March’s U Sports championships.
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The Pickering, Ont., native is in his final year of eligibility competing in U Sports. As a consistent member of the 4 x 400m relay, 4 x 800m relay, and the historically-dominant Guelph overall men’s team, Ryan is a 12-time U Sports medallist. In the upcoming championship season, he hopes to expand his medal collection.
“My goals for the season are to win U Sports in the 600m, break the U Sports record for the 4 x 800m with my team, and win the men’s and women’s national U Sports Championship titles,” he says. At last year’s championships, Ryan was part of Guelph’s 4 x 800m relay team that took down the program record in 7:28.99, and contributed to earning the school’s sixth consecutive U Sports title.
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